CONFIRMED - Billy Sharp

[1871 Royal]

No I'm not that stupid ...... I think we are lacking in QUALITY strikers, which Sharp is. We have many strikers but I wouldn't say all of them, if any could get 1 in 2 at this level.

[tomrfcurz]

McD isn't Warnock. I can't see another striker coming in. Certainly not one like Sharp - happy to be proved wrong though

[Big Ern]

No I'm not that stupid ...... I think we are lacking in QUALITY strikers, which Sharp is. We have many strikers but I wouldn't say all of them, if any could get 1 in 2 at this level.

Agree we are lacking a quality striker, but still think Sharp is an unrealistic signing for us and with have other priorities at the moment.

[1871 Royal]

I agree that he is possibly an unrealistic target and we do need players in other areas I was merely pointing out that fact that Sharp is not just 'another stiker' but one with a bit of quality, and proven at this level which would be a good purchase for a club like Reading.

[LWJ]

I wouldn't mind seeing Billy Sharp come to the club, but we don't lack goals in our strikers, so we have no need for him.

[FiNeRaIn]

I wouldn't mind seeing Billy Sharp come to the club, but we don't lack goals in our strikers, so we have no need for him.

You are either on the wind up, or you haven't seen many games this season.

[Ian Royal]

I wouldn't mind seeing Billy Sharp come to the club, but we don't lack goals in our strikers, so we have no need for him.

You are either on the wind up, or you haven't seen many games this season.

A goal every 3.5 games (Church & ALF) isn't particularly bad when you have a strike force which is being regularly shuffled. You'd have to hope it would improve with a settled starting pair. Albeit the main pair has been Church / ALF.

Ooo, Church's scoring rate actually appears to be better than ALF's assuming I've got my data entry correct.

Church - 237
ALF - 257

18 (19 if you count HRK's whilst playing upfront) goals isn't too bad from strikers after 25 games.
0.72 goals a game compared to 0.83 goals a game from our strikers over the 46 games last season.

We lack an individual really staking a claim by going on a very strong scoring run. But then all of our strikers are actually scoring at an ok rate when they actually play.

[Handsome Man]

The goalies are fine - among the best in the league
The defensive six are great - among the best in the league
We have Kebe/HRK and MacAnuff and HRK - much admired in the championship

Sharp would be a brilliant addition to those nine.

[Snowball]

Ian, when there are so few goals scored the stats become silly
and change DRASTICALLY if a player gets a brace

Church has had 4 goals in almost all his minutes (1,321 = 430 minutes per goal) but then got
on as sub for 26 minutes and got a brace which utterly transformed those figures
to 6 in 1347 = 228 minutes.

Good Luck to him (and you could say similar about ALF)

1437 minutes for 5 goals = 1 every 286 minutes
then
1447 minutes for 6 goals = 1 every 241 minutes

But you surely can't discount the assists? The assists make ALF look a lot better

1,447 Minutes 11 Major Contributions one every 131 Minutes 6 Goals 5 Assists ALF (RFC Games)
1,347 Minutes 07 Major Contributions one every 192 Minutes 6 Goals 1 Assists CHURCH

[tomrfcurz]

After having a listen, cant see any offer RFC will make changing Sharp's mind, even if they did pay the release fee
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 677991.stm

[Simon's Church]

Ian, when there are so few goals scored the stats become silly
and change DRASTICALLY if a player gets a brace

Church has had 4 goals in almost all his minutes (1,321 = 430 minutes per goal) but then got
on as sub for 26 minutes and got a brace which utterly transformed those figures
to 6 in 1347 = 228 minutes.

Good Luck to him (and you could say similar about ALF)

1437 minutes for 5 goals = 1 every 286 minutes
then
1447 minutes for 6 goals = 1 every 241 minutes

But you surely can't discount the assists? The assists make ALF look a lot better

1,447 Minutes 11 Major Contributions one every 131 Minutes 6 Goals 5 Assists ALF (RFC Games)
1,347 Minutes 07 Major Contributions one every 192 Minutes 6 Goals 1 Assists CHURCH

Church is far more clinical though, in the league he's scoring every 3.83 shots compared to ALF's 5.6 shots per goal...

[Ian Royal]

Ian, when there are so few goals scored the stats become silly
and change DRASTICALLY if a player gets a brace

Church has had 4 goals in almost all his minutes (1,321 = 430 minutes per goal) but then got
on as sub for 26 minutes and got a brace which utterly transformed those figures
to 6 in 1347 = 228 minutes.

Good Luck to him (and you could say similar about ALF)

1437 minutes for 5 goals = 1 every 286 minutes
then
1447 minutes for 6 goals = 1 every 241 minutes

But you surely can't discount the assists? The assists make ALF look a lot better

1,447 Minutes 11 Major Contributions one every 131 Minutes 6 Goals 5 Assists ALF (RFC Games)
1,347 Minutes 07 Major Contributions one every 192 Minutes 6 Goals 1 Assists CHURCH

We weren't talking about assists. We were talking about goals. Goals don't come regularly every so many minutes, it doesn't matter whether two came in one sub appearance for Church, he still scored them.

I don't know why you're getting in a hissy fit about me posting up their minutes per goal. I made no value judgement on who is better.

[Snowball]

Where's the hissy-fit?

I simply believe that you shouldn't discount ALF's very good assist rate (Church's is miserable, always has been)

Also, as I've pointed out elsewhere, with so few goals, one goal as a sub drastically changes things

Not enough minute/goals to show the difference.

I would expect ALF to beat Church by a good whack come season's end

[Snowball]

[

1,447 Minutes 11 Major Contributions one every 131 Minutes 6 Goals 5 Assists ALF (RFC Games)
1,347 Minutes 07 Major Contributions one every 192 Minutes 6 Goals 1 Assists CHURCH

Church is far more clinical though, in the league he's scoring every 3.83 shots compared to ALF's 5.6 shots per goal...[/quote]

That's a surprise! Church's shooting has never been exactly "deadly"

[melonhead]

Where's the hissy-fit?

I simply believe that you shouldn't discount ALF's very good assist rate (Church's is miserable, always has been)

Also, as I've pointed out elsewhere, with so few goals, one goal as a sub drastically changes things

Not enough minute/goals to show the difference.

I would expect ALF to beat Church by a good whack come season's end

yeah you should include all major contributions,including half assists taken from match reports, and only including the period in which they back up your point/count for a player you are bigging up ian- then they would be statistically accurate

[LWJ]

I wouldn't mind seeing Billy Sharp come to the club, but we don't lack goals in our strikers, so we have no need for him.

You are either on the wind up, or you haven't seen many games this season.

From the Ipswich away game, we have scored 17 goals in 9 league games, conceeding only 9. At which point do we lack goals??

[Snowball]

I wouldn't mind seeing Billy Sharp come to the club, but we don't lack goals in our strikers, so we have no need for him.

You are either on the wind up, or you haven't seen many games this season.

From the Ipswich away game, we have scored 17 goals in 9 league games, conceeding only 9. At which point do we lack goals??

In the defeat at Blackpool? The defeat at Cardiff?

[1871 Royal]

I wouldn't mind seeing Billy Sharp come to the club, but we don't lack goals in our strikers, so we have no need for him.

You are either on the wind up, or you haven't seen many games this season.

From the Ipswich away game, we have scored 17 goals in 9 league games, conceeding only 9. At which point do we lack goals??

How many of those 17 have come from strikers? Which is what you originally said ....

Ipswich A - 3 goals, 1 from striker
Peterborough H - 3 goals, 2 from striker
Blackpool A - 0 goals
West Ham H - 3 goals, 2 from striker
Leeds A - 1 goal, 1 from striker
Brighton H - 3 goals, 0 from striker
Ipswich H - 1 goal, 0 from striker
Cardiff A - 1 goal, 0 from striker
Stevenage H - 0 goals
Watford A - 2 goals, 1 from striker

7/17 is hardly prolific

[loyalroyal4life]

we only have a chance of seeing sharp in a reading shirt next season (if we go up)

[LWJ]

In the defeat at Blackpool? The defeat at Cardiff?

We were unlucky at Blackpool, and Cardiff we were shite.